Your First Step Online: Choosing the Right Web Domain

Welcome to the world of the internet!

If you’re thinking about taking your business or idea online, one of the first and most crucial steps is selecting a ‘web domain‘ or ‘website domain‘.

Think of it as choosing the address for your online home where customers and visitors can find you. Don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy; this article is designed to guide you through the process in a simple, clear, and friendly way.

What is a Web Domain?

A web domain, also known as a ‘website domain name’, is the unique name that people type into a web browser to visit your website. It’s like the digital equivalent of a street address for a physical store. For instance, ‘www.example.co.uk‘ is a domain name where ‘example.co.uk’ represents your unique online identity.

Why is a Good Domain Name Important?

  • Identity and Branding: Your domain name is a critical part of your online identity and branding. It should ideally reflect your business name or the services you offer.
  • Ease of Finding You: A good domain name makes it easier for customers to find and remember you.
  • Professional Credibility: Having a custom domain lends credibility to your business, making it appear more professional than having a subdomain on another website.

Choosing the Right Domain Name

  1. Keep It Simple and Memorable: Choose a name that is short, easy to spell, and easy to remember.
  2. Relevant to Your Business: Make sure it reflects your business or the services you offer.
  3. Avoid Numbers and Hyphens: These can be confusing and are harder to remember.
  4. Check for Availability: Your desired domain name might already be taken, so have a few alternatives in mind.

Types of Domain Extensions

  • .com, .net, .org: These are the most common and widely recognised extensions.
  • .biz, .info: More specific extensions that might be relevant to your business.
  • Country-Specific Extensions: Like .uk for the United Kingdom, these can be good if your business primarily serves a local market.

Purchasing Your Domain

Once you have chosen a domain name, you need to purchase it through a ‘domain registrar‘. This is a company that manages the registration of domain names. Prices and services vary, so it’s worth shopping around to find the best deal for your needs. UKC offer great deals on .uk, .co.uk and .com domain names.

Protecting Your Domain Name

  • Renewal: Domains are purchased for a set period. Make sure to renew your domain to keep ownership.
  • Privacy Protection: Consider adding privacy protection to keep your personal information safe.

Setting Up Your Website

After securing your domain, the next step is to build your website. We offer website hosting services and tools to create your website, or you can choose a separate web hosting provider.

One way to get your site online quickly is to use a professional easy to use website builder.

Conclusion

Selecting the right web domain is a vital first step in establishing your online presence. It’s an exciting journey, and with a bit of thought and creativity, you can find the perfect domain name that reflects your business and makes it easy for customers to find you. Remember, your domain name is more than just a web address; it’s a key part of your brand’s identity in the digital world.


Web Domain Names Search


Frequently Asked Questions about Web Domains

What factors should I consider when choosing a website domain name?

When selecting a website domain name, consider its relevance to your business, simplicity, memorability, and how it represents your brand. Avoid complex spellings, and ensure it’s easy for your audience to recall and type.

Can I purchase any website domain name of my choice?

While you can choose any website domain name, it must be unique and not already in use. Use a domain name search tool to check the availability of your desired web domain.

What are the benefits of having a custom website domain name instead of a subdomain?

A custom website domain name enhances your brand’s professionalism and credibility, improves your search engine presence, and offers better branding opportunities compared to a subdomain.

How can a good web domain impact my business’s online presence?

A good web domain can significantly impact your business’s online presence by improving brand recognition, search engine optimization (SEO), and making it easier for customers to find and remember your site.

Stripe Payment Processing

UK-Cheapest.co.uk now accepts payments processed by Stripe. This enables clients to pay with all popular credit/debit cards as well as ApplePay and GooglePay.


What is Stripe?

Stripe is a payment services provider that lets merchants accept credit and debit cards or other payments. It is used by some of the world’s largest companies, including Amazon and Shopify.

Millions of businesses of all sizes – from startups to large enterprises – use Stripe’s software and APIs to accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online.

What payments does Stripe take?

As a payment processor, Stripe allows business owners to accept payments from credit and debit cards and processes those payments. Using Stripe, businesses can also accept payments from mobile wallets and buy now, pay later services. Stripe also supports payments in a variety of currencies. Stripe Payments is the software that processes those payments.

Are Stripe payments safe?

During checkout, clients never leave the UKC Customer Portal. Complete personal card information goes directly to Stripe and is never visible or stored within any UKC servers or databases. Only last 4 digits may be stored for your own reference. The Stripe API handles all refunds and obtains transaction information.

Stripe has been audited and certified as a PCI compliance Level 1 service provider, which means it has to undergo an annual compliance report and routine security scans and tests. Stripe encrypts all customers’ credit card numbers and stores decryption information separately, which means Stripe can’t see credit card numbers without taking extra steps.

UKC04 – Upgrade to Plesk Obsidian

Security, Performance and Feature Enhancements

We are pleased to announce that all hosting accounts that reside on UKC04 (Plesk Onyx) will be upgraded to the very latest Plesk Obsidian panel between 1800 Wednesday 8th June and 0400 Thursday 9th June 2022. There will be no disruption to your service.

Plesk Obsidian brings a whole suite of new features as well as the highest level of security and performance. In addition to the panel and base operating system upgrade your server hardware will be upgraded to the latest generation equipment thus delivering the highest performance for your web hosting services.

Access to the Plesk panel and the recommended name servers remain unchanged:

Panel access: https://ukc04.uk:8443
Nameserver 1: ns.ukc04.uk
Nameserver 2: ns2.ukc04.uk

The web server IP address will change from 5.77.32.80 to 195.224.99.184. If you use your own name servers (i.e. not the recommended name servers ns.ukc04.uk and ns2.ukc04.uk) then please ensure you change your DNS A records to use the new IP address within 7 days.

In the event that you have a problem with your web site service or you feel the migration of some of your data may need further attention please do not hesitate to contact the Helpdesk, advise of the specific problem you are experiencing and we will resync your data without delay.

We hope you enjoy the enhanced performance and security of your new UKC Plesk Obsidian Server.

UKC08 – Upgrade to Plesk Obsidian

Security, Performance and Feature Enhancements

We are pleased to announce that all hosting accounts that reside on UKC07 (Plesk Onyx) will be upgraded to the very latest Plesk Obsidian panel between 1800 Wednesday 8th September and 0400 Friday 10th September 2021. There will be no disruption to your service.

Plesk Obsidian brings a whole suite of new features as well as the highest level of security and performance. In addition to the panel and base operating system upgrade your server hardware will be upgraded to the latest generation equipment thus delivering the highest performance for your web hosting services.

Access to the Plesk panel and the recommended name servers remain unchanged:

Panel access: https://ukc08.uk:8443
Nameserver 1: ns.ukc08.uk
Nameserver 2: ns2.ukc08.uk

The web server IP address will change from 109.203.103.96 to 195.224.99.188. If you use your own name servers (i.e. not the recommended name servers ns.ukc08.uk and ns2.ukc08.uk) then please ensure you change your DNS A records to use the new IP address within 7 days.

In the event that you have a problem with your web site service or you feel the migration of some of your data may need further attention please do not hesitate to contact the Helpdesk, advise of the specific problem you are experiencing and we will resync your data without delay.

We hope you enjoy the enhanced performance and security of your new UKC Plesk Obsidian Server.

Legacy Site Builder is now Retired

Legacy Site Builder is now Retired

In order to streamline our site building services our legacy Site Builder Service is now retired and all Site Building services are now based on the very latest Plesk Web Presence Builder.

A Big Welcome to Plesk Web Presence Builder

Web Presence Builder is a great tool that enables users with no knowledge of HTML markup or graphic design skills to create professional-looking sites. This tool provides a simple visual editor and a huge set of templates for different websites. Just pick a suitable page design and content template, add your text to the pages, and publish the site. The editor allows you to create web pages, add content of different types (text, images, video, scripts), and edit website settings such as website name, keywords, icons, and so on.

WPB allows you to:

  • Create webpages.
  • Add a wide variety of content (text, images, video, scripts, and so on).
  • Edit website settings (website name, keywords, icons, and so on).

Any clients with one of the following legacy Site Builder plans already has the Site Builder One Plesk Web Presence Builder add-on activated on their hosting account and the legacy Site Builder plan has been cancelled.

You will no longer be able to publish changes to your existing website but will be able to build and publish a new website using Plesk Web Presence Builder.

Legacy Site Builder plans that have been retired:

  • Business Card
  • Personal
  • Starter
  • Business
  • Pro

To access Web Presence Builder, please login to your Plesk Control Panel and go to Domains -> Navigate to the domain that you wish to access Web Presence Builder for -> go to Launch Web Presence Builder.

To create a website with Web Presence Builder:

  1. Login to your Plesk Control Panel
  2. Go to Websites & Domains and find your domain name.
  3. Click the Create Site button under Presence Builder.
  4. Select a topic that best suits your website.

Construct and Publish your Website:

  1. Structure: add more pages, remove the predefined pages that you do not need.
  2. Content: change the predefined content to your own, add text, images, videos, scripts, and other required elements.
  3. Design: change the layout and colour scheme.
  4. Publish the website.

Please follow the link below to view the Plesk Web Presence Builder user guide:

https://docs.plesk.com/en-US/obsidian/customer-guide/websites-and-domains/website-content/presence-builder.74102/

If you have any questions at all, please contact our HelpDesk team.